Punching Tyler Crowley
by katerad4
Summary: *I was fuming. Absolutely positively livid. And my hand hurt like hell.* In a world with no monsters and no magic, Jacob Black is still Bella Swan's best friend... but that's not all he WANTS to be. AU, all human.


Author's Note:

What if Edward Cullen had died in 1918 like he was supposed to? What if there were no vampires, no werewolves on the Olympic Peninsula?

In a world with 'no monsters and no magic', Bella Swan still ends up in Forks, Washington after her mother's remarriage. Jacob Black re-befriends her one day when their respective groups of friends meet on First Beach at the same time, and they fall into an easy and effortless friendship.

He supports Bella as she struggles to adjust to people wanting to be around her. She's not used to having friends, not used to having boys be interested in her. In the newness of the feeling, she gives in to Mike Newton's continual propositions and ends up dating him for a while, much to Jake's displeasure. (She's just too nice to say she's just not really all that attracted to him, and the relationship doesn't last long when he finally figures that out.) Jacob and her laugh about the silly things his friends do to try to impress her, he teaches her a few things about cars, and she helps him with his English homework. In short, they're natural, comfortable friends.

But is that all?

JPOV, set at the end of Bella's junior (Jake's freshman) year.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. If I did, Bella would be less of a self-hating doormat, Jacob would have given Bella some tough love and forced her to admit that Edward wasn't good for her after he left, and they would've ended up together, getting married, living in La Push and giving a very happy Charlie three little grandbabies. Too bad they're not mine, huh?

* * *

I was fuming.

Absolutely positively livid.

And my hand hurt like _hell._

"Jacob Black!"

I could hear her stomping after me, but I kept walking. She practically had to jog to keep up.

"Stupid long legs! Slow DOWN Jake!"

I stopped and felt her crash into my back, knocking me off balance slightly before I spun and caught her forearm awkwardly to keep her from falling down into the sand of First Beach.

"Thanks." Bella mumbled.

"No problem." I replied tightly.

A hard glint came back into her eyes. "Do you care to explain what just happened back there?"

"It was nothing." I denied, as I tried to rub the sting out of my now bruised knuckles discreetly.

"Nothing." She repeated dully. "It was _nothing _that you just punched Tyler Crowley in the face?"

_Stupid mother fucking son of a bitch... _

"I'm _sorry, _okay?!" But I wasn't. The bastard deserved it. "I didn't PLAN on it, it just... _happened."_ I cried out.

She sighed heavily. "Why, Jake? Huh? Why did it happen?"

I felt my face flushing. "I don't know."

"I don't buy that, Jake. Don't lie to me." She popped her hip and crossed her arms over her chest, pouting.

Which was so completely fucking _adorable._

...And this was _so _not the time to be thinking that.

"I just don't like him, okay?" I snapped. That was a half-truth. I _didn't _like him. In fact, I'd wanted to punch him for a very long time. Since he broke her fucking ribs with his goddamn truck.

"You're impossible!" Bella cried, throwing her hands up. "You don't like any of my school friends!"

"That is _not _true!" I insisted, stung by the accusation. "I like Angela. And Ben, Eric, and Connor."

_At least they didn't fucking drool over her every time she came around. _

"But not Mike or Tyler or Jessica or Lauren?" She prodded.

"Come on, Bella. You don't even like Lauren." I rolled my eyes, avoiding the question.

"Why? What did they do to you, Jake?" She continued, relentlessly.

I started off down the beach again. I could barely see the familiar shape of a driftwood tree in the dark.

"Jake---" Bella followed, not to be deterred from receiving an answer.

"I'm not walking away, I promise. I'm just thinking." At least that wasn't a lie.

I _didn't _like them, plain and simple. I didn't like Mike because he'd dated her, however briefly, I didn't like Tyler because of the van incident and because of his absolutely _relentless _prom invitations... But I couldn't exactly tell her that.

I didn't like them because _they _kept trying to take what _I _wanted.

Bella.

I'd tried to just be her friend, I really did. I'd tried not to let my lingering childhood crush on her turn into something more than that. Seriously, I'd put up a valiant effort, dating Kim Connweller for a month before we both admitted during a really awkward breakup that even _thinking_ about getting to second base together was just too awkward when we were both obviously obsessed with other people, making it feel way more like kissing one's cousin than it probably should (but I had put in a good word for her with Jared, at least) and attempting to purge the image of an almost naked Bella from a time I'd accidentally walked in on her changing from my mind with massive amounts of lesbian porn, but it had still happened: My stupid sixteen year old self was freaking in love with her.

Awesome, right?

Not.

It's really, really uncool and massively frustrating to be in love with a hot older girl who still thinks of you as her scrawny little-brother-like childhood best friend and sit by and watch older, less chivalrous boys attempt to get into her pants.

Like Tyler fucking Crowley.

I mean seriously, when she said she didn't want to go to prom with him the first time, that should have been enough.

Nope. Not for that jackass.

He just had to keep _asking _her and _asking _her and freaking _touching _her and driving me absolutely _crazy_!

"Jake?" Bella was sitting on our driftwood tree now, watching me pace back and forth like a fool.

Because, yeah, like a sappy _idiot _I'd come to think of it as _ours, _even though it was a freaking washed up tree on the beach where we just happened to sit together a lot and talk about everything and nothing while I stared at her out of the corner of my eye and wished I were two years older, maybe had a little more muscle, so maybe she'd look at me the way I looked at her instead of getting all embarrassed every time she caught me staring because _of course _she didn't feel the same way, and _of course _it would make her feel awkward because she was so damn _shy _and _modest _and _gorgeous _and _smart _and _funny_, in a doesn't-even-know-she-is way...

"Jake, sit down, you're making me dizzy." She tugged on my hand and I gave in, falling down beside her and rubbing my free hand over my face tiredly.

"Hey." She said softly. "What's wrong?" Her thumb was rubbing little circles on the back of my hand, and it gave me goosebumps.

I thanked my lucky stars every day that for some reason, she let me hold her hand and hug her and even fall asleep on the couch with her, that one time when the power had gone out in Forks and she'd had to crash at my place while Charlie figured out what had caused the outage... Waking up to find her asleep against my shoulder had been the most warm and contented feeling...

I shook my head, as if I could physically shake those dangerous thoughts from my mind.

"I just---Sorry. He bugs me. They bug me." I admitted, avoiding her eyes.

"All of them?" She questioned, not letting go of my hand. "Or just the boys?"

I shifted uncomfortably, cursing her for her stupid perceptiveness. (I actually liked it, most of the time. She could always tell somehow when I really needed to vent about something, or when something was upsetting me, or when I just needed to listen to _her _vent about something as a distraction...) "Just... the guys."

"But... why, Jake?" She leaned down a bit, as if to better see my downcast eyes. "I don't... You know I never really liked Mike in the first place, I'm honestly not upset about the Jessica thing. They make a better couple anyway... And Tyler's not a bad guy, just because he can't drive well in the snow. You've got to stop holding that against him some time, Jacob, I think you'd actually get along. He's funny. And cocky, sometimes, like someone _else _I know." She nudged my shoulder playfully, and in doing so, coaxed a reluctant smile from me.

Of course I acted confident around _her. _How else was I supposed to hide how stupid and unimportant I felt, knowing I didn't have a chance in the world with her? I was a freshman, she was a junior, and a freaking hot one, at that, and I was just a poor kid from the rez.

But I didn't say that. "It's not being cocky when it's the truth, Bells." I joked, instead.

"Hey, a smile! First one of those I've seen tonight..."

I felt it slide off my face. I couldn't be _happy _when Crowley had his freaking _hands _on her.

"Or not..." I felt her shift closer to me, and now I could feel the side of her thigh pressed up against mine, and I caught a whiff of her shampoo. Strawberry. I loved the way she smelled, even if that was creepy.

"Please tell me what's wrong." She whispered. Her tiny hand reached up to tuck my hair behind my ear so that she could see the side of my face. I always wore it down around her. She'd let slip once that she liked it down, that it made me me look more _mature. _I would do anything that would make me seem olderaround her.

Her hand fluttered awkwardly by the side of my face.

I wanted to turn and kiss it.

But I didn't.

"It doesn't matter. Seriously."

"It matters to me." She said seriously, turning my chin with her thumb to look into my face. "It... upsets me when you're upset. And you're obviously upset. So it matters."

"I just..." I struggled to contain my agitation. "He was... _touching _you."

Bella's mouth dropped open, and her hand dropped away from my face.

"So... you punched him? Because he touched me?"

"No, because of the _way _he was touching you." I forced out, trying _not _to picture his hand inching up her thigh..

"I---But Jacob..."

"Look, I know it was stupid or irrational or whatever and you're always saying I'm overprotective---" _When I'm really just jealous... _"---but I just... He shouldn't be touching you like that." I finished, lamely.

"I---Oh. _Oh." _Bella was blinking rapidly now, like a deer in headlights, and I could practically see her putting together the pieces in her head... When her expression changed to one of realization, I began to panic.

_Shit._

_Backtrack. Now!_

"Look, I'm really sorry, I'll go back now and apologize if you want---"

"Shut up, Jake." She cut me off, and I immediately did, taken aback.

"W-What?"

"Stop talking." She said firmly. "I---I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to tell me the truth, no matter what it is, okay?"

_This can't be good._

"I---I don't know if this is a good idea Bells." I stuttered.

"I think it's a great idea." She said briskly. "Now I'm going to ask you, and you can tell the truth, or you can lie."

"O-Okay." I whispered, knowing she'd be able to spot a lie a mile away.

I felt like I could practically hear my heart beating out of my chest, and for a crazy moment I was afraid she could hear it too and she'd realize I was in love with her and run away mortified and never come back.

"_Why _don't you like him touching me, Jake?" Bella whispered, and my heart dropped into my stomach. "Why does it bother you so much?"

_No. No no no no no..._

"I---" I began, but no words came out. "I---"

"Jacob..." She whispered, and lifted her hand back to my cheek again.

This was new. She'd never brushed her thumb across my cheekbone quite like that before, and I KNEW I'd remember if she had.

"I'm---" I heard the words coming out of my mouth as if from far away, as if I was listening to somebody else speak in my voice. "It's supposed to be me. I don't want anybody touching you but me."

And for two seconds it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

And in the next two seconds it felt like everything was crashing down.

Even in the fading sun, I could see the bright blush that rose in her cheeks, across her nose, down her neck...

_Damnit. Damn it all to hell, goddamnit!_

What the fuck was wrong with me? I'd freaking said that out _loud?!_ I sounded like a possessive jerk, and I wasn't even her freaking _boyfriend!_

But then Bella lifted her other hand, and I felt her brush my hair out of my face, felt her fingers twisting through it at the nape of my neck, and she opened her mouth and whispered, in a trembling voice, "Maybe... Maybe I don't want anybody touching me but you either."

I felt my breath hitch in my throat.

Touching her. She didn't want anybody but me touching her. Which meant she _wanted _me... touching her?

Did that mean she... wanted... _me? _

"Please say something." She begged, a look of dawning horror rising in her face.

I could practically feel her shrinking away from me, and I panicked, acting on instinct, wanting to keep her here with me, on the beach at twilight, telling me she wanted me to touch her, forever...

I leaned forward and kissed her.

On the lips.

I kissed Bella Swan on the lips.

I cupped her small face softly in my hands and brushed my lips against hers gently, hesitantly, praying this was what she wanted, that I hadn't misinterpreted...

I pulled back after a few moments, opening my eyes to try to gauge her reaction.

Her eyes were still closed and she was smiling softly.

Joy pulsed through my body like an electric shock and I sighed happily, which is when her eyes snapped open.

Her whole face turned red.

I laughed gleefully and pulled her into my arms tightly, feeling joy shock me again when she tucked her face into the crook between my neck and shoulder and I felt her lips press into my skin next the the collar of my t-shirt.

"God Bells, I... I never thought... Why didn't you say anything?" I rambled, feeling almost woozy from happiness.

"I, geeze, Jake, I didn't think I had to!" She cried, pulling away just enough to look me in the face. "I don't... I don't let anybody else hold my hand, or visit anybody else every day after school, or blush when I get caught looking at anybody else, or have a special place with anybody else---"

"You mean... here?" My heart swelled, knowing she thought of this tree the same way that I did.

"I---Yeah." She blushed adorably. "I think of this as... _our _spot."

"Me too." I smiled widely, and she smiled back.

"I---Jake?" She said, suddenly seeming nervous again.

"Yeah?"

"I---Do you maybe want to... come to prom with me?" She bit her lip nervously.

"W-what? Really? I thought you didn't want to go!" I cried.

"I didn't... not with Tyler." She rolled her eyes. "I mean... I'll probably regret it if I don't go, you know, twenty years from now or something, and I just... It will be fun if you're there." She blushed again. "But... I... can't dance. I'm really, really bad..."

I grinned. "I'm not so good at it either... Sounds like a match made in heaven. If it gets too awkward, we can just sit in a corner and watch other people who can't dance. Or come back here." I added, thoughtfully.

Her face split into a beautiful smile. "You---really? You'll go with me?"

"I'd go anywhere with you." I admitted truthfully. "I---love you."

She gaped at me.

"Aw, shit, that... I shouldn't have said that, right? I mean, it's way too soon and I haven't even officially asked you out yet or anything and I'm---"

Her lips cut me off. "Shut up, Jake." She whispered, between desperate, delirious kisses. "I love you too, you idiot."

I smiled against her lips, tangling my hands in her hair as I pulled her closer.

_Not close enough._

...Maybe if we stayed out late enough, we could 'accidentally' fall asleep together on the couch tonight, too.

Anybody interested in a short follow-up? Prom, perhaps? Or something further down the line? Requests via review will be considered!


End file.
